hi, john. >> reporter: good afternoon to you. you can add years to your life, but unfortunately, the caveat there is only after you have taken them away. a new study out today in the new england journal of medicine from the centers for disease control has some good news and bad news. bad news first of all. in the study they found that over their lifetime a smoker will take an entire decade, ten years, off their life expectancy. but here's the good news. if you quit by age 44, you can get nine of those years back. if you wait until age 54, you'll get about six, if you don't quit until you're 64 years old, you will still get some benefit, about four of those ten years back. the center for disease control hopes these new statistics will be a powerful motivator for people to give up cigarettes early in life. >> there's really, almost nothing else that a person can do where simply by changing one thing about how you live your life you can add ten years to your life o expectancy. >> reporter: another study in the new england journal of